For a minute or so Saturday night, 6,983 fans at Munn Ice Arena had their eyes fixed on Nathan Shopbell.Shopbell, a 22-year-old electrical engineering senior, isn’t used to being the center of attention.
Fifth-ranked MSU did what it could to win a share of the CCHA title Saturday - the last night of the regular season - but the second-to-last night came back to haunt them.The Spartans had to battle for everything Saturday and eventually muscled their way to a 2-0 win over Ferris State in front of 6,983 fans at Munn Ice Arena - the largest crowd at Munn this season.But MSU missed out on the CCHA title when archrival Michigan beat Western Michigan 6-2 in Kalamazoo on Saturday.
Big Rapids - Playing in one of its biggest games of the season, fifth-ranked MSU laid an egg at Ferris State on Friday night.The Spartans (23-7-5 overall, 17-6-4 CCHA) jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second period, but the underdog Bulldogs came back and stole a 3-2 win at Ewigleben Ice Arena.The loss darkens MSU’s league title hopes heading into the last game of the regular season.
For weeks, MSU head coach Ron Mason said he wanted the CCHA title race to come down to the last weekend of the season. He got his wish. The fifth-ranked Spartans (23-6-5 overall, 17-5-4 CCHA) enter this weekend’s season finale against Ferris State deadlocked atop the league standings with archrival Michigan. MSU and U-M both play tonight and Saturday with championship implications weighing heavily on every shot, save and goal. Both teams are favored to sweep their home-and-home series - U-M plays sixth-place Western Michigan - but if either team slips up even a little bit, it could pave the title road for a hated rival.
Maple leaf pride was burning within the 10 Canadians on the MSU hockey team after Canada beat the United States 5-2 for the Olympic ice hockey gold medal Sunday. All eight freshmen on MSU’s team - five Canadians and three Americans - watched the contest in the Wonders Hall dorm room shared by freshman left wing Kevin Estrada and freshman center Ash Goldie. The game was a tense, close battle until a decisive third period lifted the Canadians to victory - much to the delight of rookie left wing Brock Radunske, who’s from New Hamburg, Ontario.
After the Spartans’ top forward line produced impressive statistics in Saturday night’s 4-3 win over Miami (Ohio), MSU head coach Ron Mason was thinking the same thing as many Spartan fans.“It’s about time,” the longtime MSU foreman said.The three players that comprise the top line - junior left wing Brian Maloney, freshman center Jim Slater and senior right wing Adam Hall - weren’t really slumping.
Oxford, Ohio - With fifth-ranked MSU’s league-title hopes hanging in the balance, its talented top line carried the Spartans to a dramatic 4-3 victory over Miami (Ohio) on Saturday at Goggin Ice Arena.Junior left wing Brian Maloney tallied the game-winning goal with 50.9 seconds left.
To say Miami (Ohio) has struggled to score in recent contests against MSU is quite an understatement - the RedHawks’ last four games against MSU have been exhibitions of complete offensive futility. Never before, in 60 years of MSU hockey, had the Spartans shut out the same opponent four times in a row until thwarting Miami the past two years.
Most of the talk in MSU’s locker room this week centered around the team’s impending series against Miami (Ohio). But a close second in conversation material has been Olympic hockey, which started its medal round Wednesday.Many Spartan players are rooting for a United States versus Canada matchup, which won’t happen until Sunday’s gold or bronze medal games - if at all.
MSU recruit Corey Potter, upon returning from Siberia, both verified and discredited the mental image most Americans have about the frosty central Russian region. “It was really cold, but it wasn’t that bad,” said Potter, who signed a National Letter of Intent with MSU in November.
In the next few weeks, hockey recruit Shane Hynes plans to decide where to continue his career - with the two finalists being Cornell and Denver. The bad news for the Spartans is they were originally the third team on Hynes’ short list of schools, but he crossed them off when 23-year MSU head coach Ron Mason announced he was stepping down after this season to become athletics director. “I didn’t want to go into a school where they weren’t going to have a coach until the summer and the new coach had never even seen me play,” Hynes said.
The MSU women’s hockey club is seeking to join Wayne State as the only universities in Michigan to have a women’s varsity ice hockey teams. MSU has 11 women’s varsity sports, and each is budgeted a certain amount of money each year. From July 1, 2000 to June 30, the women’s basketball team had revenues amounting to $109,296 and expenses totaling $1,374,930. During the same year all other women’s teams brought in $416,968 compared to expenses totaling $4,769,835. The hockey club team first applied for varsity status in 1996.
Detroit - Fifth-ranked MSU finally broke its season-long, head-to-head stalemate against Michigan and claimed a 3-1 victory in front of 20,058 fans at Joe Louis Arena on Saturday. The Spartans (21-6-5 overall, 15-5-4 CCHA) raced to a 2-1 lead in a wild opening five minutes, and then clamped down on the No.
Colton Fretter, 19, is standing firm in his decision to play hockey for MSU next season. The high-scoring forward from Harrow, Ontario, signed a National Letter of Intent with the university back in November after choosing the Spartans over Bowling Green, Miami (Ohio) and other suitors. But November was a much different time in Spartan hockey.
The Ron vs. Red era could fade into history this weekend as fifth-ranked MSU tangles with archrival No.
MSU’s commitment list swelled to five when Northville goaltender Justin Tobe pledged to the Spartans. The 5-foot-11, 157-pounder plays for the Compuware Ambassadors of the North American Hockey League.
If the rumor mill is on track, MSU has apparently lost its top candidate to replace Spartan hockey head coach Ron Mason. Denver head coach George Gwozdecky held a press conference Tuesday afternoon to announce a long-term contract extension to stay with the Pioneers.
As one of the most heralded skaters in MSU’s highly touted, eight-player recruiting class, freshman defenseman Duncan Keith had plenty of expectations coming into his rookie season.He furthered his reputation by scoring in his first collegiate game, “The Cold War.” His laserlike slap shot helped the Spartans tie archrival Michigan, 3-3.He tallied again in his fifth game, a 4-3 loss to Nebraska-Omaha on Oct.
Heavy underdog Notre Dame dealt fourth-ranked MSU a double blow with a 3-2 upset win at Munn Ice Arena Saturday night.With the setback, the Spartans saw their school-record home unbeaten streak snapped at 33 games (30-0-3). MSU hadn’t lost at home since a 2-1 decision to Omaha on Oct.
Any Spartan suffering through a scoring drought probably can’t wait for the puck to drop tonight at Munn Ice Arena. Notre Dame (9-14-5 overall, 7-11-4 CCHA) is in town for the first time in almost two years, and just gave up 13 goals in a series against Alaska-Fairbanks. The Irish have given up an average of 3.43 goals per game - which ranks 10th in the CCHA.